Pakistan bombers hit arms factory

by **enigma_1** Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:30 am

At least 63 people have been killed and dozens injured in twin
suicide bombings outside Pakistan's main munitions factory in the town
of Wah, police say.
The attack is the deadliest on a military site in Pakistan's history.
The bombs hit the town, some 30km (18 miles) north-west of Islamabad, as workers were leaving the factory.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taleban said they had carried out the
attacks, which he said were a response to army violence in the
country's north-west.

Speaking to the BBC, Maulvi Umar of the Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan
said the bombings in Wah were in retaliation for the deaths of
"innocent women and children" in the tribal area of Bajaur.
He said more attacks would take place in Pakistan's major urban conurbations unless the army withdrew from the tribal areas.
Pakistani Prime Minister Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani promised to punish the perpetrators.
Wah is a strategically important town normally under heavy
security as it is home to a large industrial complex producing
conventional arms and ammunition, correspondents say.
'Great suffering'
The first blast took place outside the gate of the factory as workers were leaving work during a shift change.
Minutes later, another blast took place at a market nearby another gate of the same factory.

Local police chief Nasir Khan Durrani told the BBC: "Many others have been injured and we expect casualties to rise."
Mr Durrani said none of the dead were military personnel.
Mohid Ahmed, a student from Wah, was on a tour of the ordnance
factories and witnessed the immediate aftermath of the blast from his
bus.
"There was smoke, bodies and blood," he told the BBC.
"Those who were left alive were in great suffering. I saw a man clutching his leg and crying in pain and asking for help."